In plain words
To understand the subject well is to grasp the bhāva. Rāga is to set your love on it. In a lecturer's work there is the joining of all three, bhāva, rāga and tāla. Understanding the subject, loving the subject, teaching the subject in the right way. This teaching is just the joining of these three. So too when cooking: the cooking to suit the fire, the fire to suit the cooking, the dal to suit the salt, the salt to suit the dal. Put in a palmful of dal and a double handful of salt, and the dish is ruined. So to keep each thing within its limit as suits it, and to enjoy it in the fitting way: that is bhāva, rāga and tāla blended. First of all you must understand the bhāva. There is no lack of people who in many ways bring Tyāgarāja's songs to nothing through such mischief. Tyāgarāja sang in Telugu. The Telugu people came to know their bhāva well. As for rāga and tāla, the Tamil people know all of it well. Those who knew the meaning were the Telugu people; those who sang with rāga and tāla were the Tamils. The Telugu people do not know much of rāga and tāla. The Tamils do not know the meaning of the words. Once Tyāgarāja sang, ‘Should I fail to praise You, what would You be short of, Rāma!’ For these Tamils, ga, ta, ba, ca, ḍa are all one! A great master of music, singing this very song, sang, ‘Should I eat pakoḍā, what would You be short of, Rāma!’ ‘Pogaḍa’ and ‘pakoḍa’: tell Me, what a difference! That is why the bhāva in the words is essential. So when we sing the Name of God, we must recognise the bhāva, the rāga and the tāla well, and sing the Name. When we do not know, we must ask those who know and try to learn.
In the Kali age there is no path higher than nāma saṅkīrtana
Embodiments of Prema! Saṅkīrtana is a very holy path. Even if we do not know the rāga, we must remember that Name gladly. We must remember the Name with love.